Hong Kong’s strict border controls are unlikely to be relaxed before the current government’s term expires on June 30, the city’s outgoing leader has said, pointing to a relatively large proportion of imported Covid-19 cases. However, a leading voice in the business community urged the government to adjust its hotel quarantine measures to align with international practice, while a lawmaker also suggested that Hong Kong could follow suit should Beijing move to ease Covid-19 curbs. The calls to ease the city’s border control measures came as six Covid-19 infections were identified at a kindergarten in Kowloon Tong, prompting health authorities to ask for classes to be partially suspended for the first time since face-to-face lessons started to resume last month. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Tuesday said that as local infections were now very low, imported cases accounted for a significant share of the total caseload. But she added that the government would need to be extremely careful as there were different sublineages under the Omicron subvariant BA.2. “I would say, at this point in time, it is very unlikely that during my term there will be more relaxation of border controls,” she said. “In other words, we will still have hotel quarantine, we will still require vaccinations before a passenger could board a plane to Hong Kong, and we will still impose ‘test and hold’ whether at the airport or at a hotel for PCR tests.” Hong Kong reported 250 coronavirus cases on Tuesday, including 34 imported ones. The daily caseload rebounded slightly from the previous day’s 190 infections, which was the fewest since February 4. No new virus-related deaths were reported for a fourth straight day. Lam also said she had nothing to reveal on the possibility of a state leader visiting Hong Kong next month to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the city’s return from British to Chinese rule on July 1. Asked whether she knew if any state leader would arrive, Lam said: “We very much hope a state leader can come to Hong Kong and give an important speech.” Lam noted that in 2017, President Xi Jinping visited Hong Kong when she was sworn in, and gave an important speech on the city’s future. “But I cannot tell you if I know about it, I can only tell you that we don’t have anything to announce on this today,” she said, adding the plan could also be affected by the epidemic situation. Lam also said that a series of events would be held to commemorate the occasion. A group of singers had also recorded an official song, and it would be broadcast on television from next week, she added. Beijing mulls relaxing quarantine policy amid investor anger, sources say The Post reported on Monday on mainland China’s plan to ease hotel quarantine for international travellers arriving in Beijing. Sources told the Post that in response to appeals from investors, Beijing was considering a “7+7” quarantine policy for such arrivals, comprising seven days of hotel isolation – down from the current 10 – and another week of self-monitoring at home. Entertainment tycoon Allan Zeman said while he understood the Hong Kong government hoped to keep infection numbers down as state leaders could be visiting, there was also an urgent need to change the border policy for the economy’s recovery. “At least, the quarantine period for travellers should be reduced from seven to five days before July 1, to make Hong Kong better align with the rest of the world,” he told the Post. “Otherwise, Hong Kong is lagging behind other metropolitan cities which have already opened up to tourism and business sectors.” He added: “It would also be nice to see the lifting of all mandatory quarantine requirements for incoming travellers after July 1, if the pandemic situation continues to get better worldwide.” Chinese premier approves John Lee’s appointment as next Hong Kong leader Lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun agreed that a possible gradual relaxation in Beijing’s quarantine policy also signalled that Hong Kong could follow suit. “If Beijing is making a small increment in relaxing [border control measures], it suggests that we could also go for relaxation in small increments,” Tien said, adding that it also showed Beijing understood the border policy needed to be relaxed gradually in the long run. However, medical experts said it was unlikely Hong Kong would further ease its hotel quarantine rules. Government pandemic adviser Professor David Hui Shu-cheong said seven days would be the minimum period required for identifying most imported cases, as studies showed the mean incubation period of the Omicron variant was around three days. “If we further reduce the quarantine period [to five days], around 50 per cent of cases could be missed,” Hui said, adding that changes could only be made if the mainland switched to living with the virus and the three-dose vaccination rate there was high enough. Infectious diseases specialist Dr Joseph Tsang Kay-yan also said it would be better to maintain the current quarantine period, to allow room for the local health situation to improve and prevent more infections from leaking into the community. However, Tsang called for the flight suspension mechanism to be scrapped so that more international flights could be allowed in as part of efforts to move towards normality. Lam said local infection numbers had been fluctuating and even if there were more than 200 cases on Tuesday, there was no need to worry. The chief executive added that vaccination remained important for Hong Kong to recover from the pandemic. Asked whether the city’s vaccine pass scheme would be scrapped if the epidemic situation or inoculation rate continued to improve, Lam said it was too early to talk about such a move. While noting 86.5 per cent of Hong Kong’s eligible population had received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, she added: “It has yet to reach 90 per cent, and only over half of residents have received three doses, so the vaccine pass must continue to be implemented.” Lam said it was difficult to set a target vaccination rate under which the policy could be abolished because new coronavirus variants could emerge, and new kinds of vaccines would be needed to deal with the situation. Can Hongkongers ditch their masks by summer? Not so fast, health experts say The latest outbreak at St Catherine’s International Kindergarten and Nursery at Norfolk Road in Kowloon Tong involved five pupils and a teacher who were in the same classroom. Nearly 60 pupils using the classroom for morning and afternoon lessons have been asked to stay at home until Friday and conduct daily rapid antigen testing. “The vaccination rate among this group of pupils was not very satisfactory. Only 50 to 60 per cent of them had received one or two doses,” said Dr Albert Au Ka-wing from the Centre for Health Protection, on the reasons behind the class suspension. Au said the outbreak should be limited to only one classroom and no other cases were found in the kindergarten which had a total of about 1,000 pupils and more than 100 employees. Health officers visited the school on Tuesday to collect environmental samples for investigation. Three more infections tied to an outbreak at a McDonald’s restaurant in Tai Koo Shing were also identified, bringing the number of affected people to nine. The latest cases were a 33-month-old boy and his helper who had visited the venue, and the boy’s mother who was not there. The city’s Covid-19 tally stands at 1,210,836 cases, with 9,370 deaths. Additional reporting by Lilian Cheng